Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to image capturing, apparatuses and image processing methods.
Description of the Related Art
In image capturing performed by an image capturing apparatus such as a digital camera, object tracking processing is carried out to perform image capturing control such as auto-focusing. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-322126 discusses, as a method of detecting motion vectors for object tracking, technologies for motion vector detection circuits configured to set a plurality of detection blocks to detect motion vectors of objects. Further, for example, Japanese Patent Application. Laid-Open No. 2012-142865 discusses technologies for efficiently accessing memory in motion detection between two frame images.
However, the conventional technologies discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-322126 have a problem in the accuracy of detecting motion vectors because correlation processing is performed based on decimated pixel values of limited detection regions. Further, the conventional technologies discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2012-142865 have a problem in that the circuit size and costs increase because a secondary memory for temporarily storing a portion of frame images is needed to realize efficient memory access.